By Eliane Engeler, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA — Attacks on Somalia's government officials, journalists and aid workers have risen to an "incredible" level in the Horn of Africa nation, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday.

But Pascal Hundt, the ICRC's outgoing head of delegation for Somalia, said the neutral agency is taking enough precautions to be able to continue providing food, drinking water, medical services and other help to hundreds of thousands of Somalis.

"Since the beginning of this year, the number of incidents targeting either Somali journalists, civil servants, prominent local leaders, government officials (or) humanitarian actors ... has just increased in an incredible proportion," Hundt told reporters.

In addition Somali insurgents have begun adopting tactics used in Iraq and Afghanistan — suicide attacks and roadside bombs, Hundt said.

"This is extremely worrying for our operation," he said.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: The first suicide attack in Somalia came in September 2006, when insurgents failed to assassinate the president in a car bomb. Suicide bombers also attacked an Ethiopian army base last year and a Burundian peacekeepers camp this year.

"It's not at a very large scale for the time being, but this is a new phenomenon," Hundt said.

There are other threats as well, including kidnapping.

So far this year nine aid workers have been abducted, according to a report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

A Somali employee of the U.N. refugee agency was seized June 21 outside the capital, Mogadishu.

Five people kidnapped last week alone are still being held.

Earlier this year, Medecins Sans Frontieres pulled out its foreign staff from Somalia after three of its aid workers were killed by a land mine.

And pirates off the coast have been capturing aid shipments.

ICRC tries to avoid being a target by talking to all parties to a conflict to make sure they are respected.

But Hundt said this is very difficult in Somalia because there are so many different sides and animosity among them is so great.

The ICRC has around 20 foreign staff based in Nairobi, Kenya, who conduct regular visits to Somalia.

Insecurity has made it difficult to plan the journeys, which are carried out discreetly without the agency's flag, he said. The ICRC also has taken the unusual step of using military escorts.

"We can still go there, but for much shorter periods," Hundt said, adding that what was a three-week visit a couple of years ago, today is a three-day journey on short notice.

In May the ICRC started distributing food to around 500,000 people in central Somalia where droughts and the fragile economic situation are threatening the lives of many rural communities and displaced people, he said.

Many of those who fled violence in the capital have been living under open skies or in makeshift camps, lacking basic services, Hundt said.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in Somalia since 2007, caught in vicious disputes over ancient clan loyalties, religion and government.

Somalia has had no effective central government or rule of law since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown by warlords in 1991. The warlords then turned on each other, and the country descended into anarchy and violence.

A shaky transitional administration was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but has failed to assert real control. After Islamic militants seized control of Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia, the government called in troops from Ethiopia in December 2006 to oust them.

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